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Several users took more time with filtering than they did with other tasks, partly because the task itself is more complex. The interface also went through the most changes in the iteration step. In the initial design, users got to the filtering interface by switching tabs at the top, but most users were confused and took longer than we would have liked to find it. When we replaced it with a button, responses were much faster. Some users didn't immediately understand what the advanced filter options referred to - partly because on paper the "Advanced Filter" link didn't show enough affordances to appear clickable and there was text underneath it (we were trying to depict a slide-down menu that inserts its contents between always-visible content). Since the hyperlinks aspect of the filter was in the advanced section, users needed more time to follow it. Some users tried to simulate it by typing text into the search bar. Some users asked for ways to preview the filter, or possibly show filter options along with items in the reading interface. Before the first iteration, users were confused about how to execute or save the filter; the iteration made the buttons more prominent and after that users found them faster.
Observations
User
| Tom's Notes
| Rahul's Notes
| Leilani's Notes
|
|---|
User 1
| computer | | --user wants email marked unread when hit “read later”
--user wanted to scroll early in the test
--“silly link” != “silly pics”, need to fix task index card (but scrolled in the task list to find it, is this --intuitive?)
--need to show somehow that items are tagged
--filter - toggle or include
--user tried looking for “href” in search bar
--user wants to see results before saving filter
--user wants to rename filter to “links” (how would a user do this?)
--we forgot to print out sharing material for paper prototype
--we forgot the add “shrink” button option for when users are reading stuff
--user thought reset button resets filter options only (resets the form, not the filter)
--user wants views and easy access to the original state of the feed
--user wants an “x” button to kill the filter (to get to original state)
--user wants a preview button
--user thought saved filters section = advanced section in filter menu (paper prototype issue only?) |
User 2
| | computer? | --User was unsure what “read something interesting” meant (didn’t try to expand any of the information in the list, just tried to read them as is)
--filter
--toggle/selection not clear for sources
--hard for user to specify links in filter. took a long time to find link checkbox (too hard?)
--user felt getting back to the information was not clear (hit read tab vs back button)
--navigation
--filter menu needs execute button
--user wants ability to make “views”
--user wants to split “views” by source (only see email, only see something else, etc)
--user wants to have a small filter menu directly on the read page (like firefox search bar?) |
User 3
| | | computer |
User 4
| | computer | --clicked on gmail “icon” directly, rather than the email content
--user felt “saved!” feedback was confusing when marking the item
--user said gmail already saves it, so why is it being “saved” here? what does this mean?
--read later button should change if item is visited already
--user felt tagging functionality was straight-forward
--user felt our interface was really busy
--user would rather click on the item to access the (read later, save, tag) buttons then have them always there
--user felt “read later” functionality was unclear, where does it go after marking it “read later”?
--user wants read items to go away after reading them
--being able to drag things off of the screen to delete them sounded like a nice feature to the user (Rahul showed user an example of this, similar to dragging things off the dock in Mac taskbar) |
User 5
| computer | | --I only have half the notes for this test because I was working on RS2 testing for a bit
--user used execute button on the filter menu!
--user hit the item itself rather than the “shrink” button to shrink the information
--user picked things he liked for read later (opposed to things he wasn’t finished with, paper prototype issue only?)
--new tag button’s functionality not immediately clear to user
--user wants multiple sharing options, not just one for the source being read |
User 6
| computer | | --user’s first comment was that our interface is very busy
--user hasn’t really used twitter (user wasn’t sure if he needed experience to use this interface)
--tapped on text of top email (and tapped it to shrink again)
--tag task went quickly
--user liked Tom’s silly sound-effects
--user identified and hit filter button quickly
--user tried to save filter (we didn’t implement saving of this filter! just the button)
--user felt the interface was relatively straight-forward and simple to use |
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